


Fawn

by dorkpatroller



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/F, Gift Fic, a fated mission to find the most celestial of creatures, first kissies, late night adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-02-04 09:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18601612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkpatroller/pseuds/dorkpatroller
Summary: Nina and Ophelia are on an adventure to find a unicorn.





	Fawn

**Author's Note:**

> this was a gift for my deer friend UuU

The moon is high above them and that’s just about the only light they have. Ophelia has a satchel tied around her, hanging from her shoulder. Inside she’s packed a few trinkets. A small pouch of purified herbs, a quartz crystal, and most importantly a silver compact mirror. Ophelia doesn’t know how her father came to have it, but it’s an antique mirror with engravings and raised beads of silver. Pure silver, she knows, and the circle of glass on the inside is pristine. 

 

“Hey,” Nina whispers. She pulls her cloak around her shoulders tighter and looks back over her shoulder. “Are you sure we have to do this at night?” 

 

They’re leaving the castle behind them. Ophelia’s father would never allow her to venture into the woods at night if she asked. Nina’s father wouldn’t either. That’s why they were forced to sneak out! This is a mission that requires the utmost care, and neither of them can join. 

 

Unicorns only show themselves for people whose virtue is still intact, after all. Simply by being a parent, a unicorn will move past you. It’s a shame, for Ophelia is sure that Odin would have loved to join them on such a task.

 

“We’ve tried in the daylight,” Ophelia whispers back. “She didn’t appear. So we must come in the darkness. I’ve read that a unicorn will eagerly come to look upon itself in a silver mirror bathed in moonlight.” 

 

“O..kay,” Nina jogs a few steps to catch up to Ophelia. “Are you  _ sure _ this thing is even real? I thought unicorns were just, you know, fairy tales?” 

 

Ophelia stops walking just to pout over her shoulder at Nina. “You know how I feel about that word. A fairy tale is just the same as a legend or a myth. It’s built upon layers and layers of truth. How can so many people in so many countries tell tales of the same beasts? It’s because unicorns, like many of their magnificent brethren, once roamed our lands.” 

 

She reaches out and slips her hand through Nina’s. “Now keep up,” She whispers. 

 

The trick to finding a Unicorn is patience. Ophelia has been working at it for a long while now. She doesn’t want to harm it, sees no need in hunting it, but she wants to  _ meet _ one. She’s dreamed of meeting one. They’ve tried several things, but they can’t really seem to attract a unicorn. Which is unjust. She knows she’s plenty virtuous, and she has  _ no  _ reason to believe Nina isn’t. 

 

In any case, they make their way to a clearing in the woods. These woods are… scary at night, to say the least. The trees all reach up in gnarled, twisted ways. They’re scrambling for light in a wasteland. Odin told her this forest was once full of faceless monsters who had been abandoned by their makers. The faceless have all been eradicated, though. Ophelia… thinks so at least. 

 

But that’s why she and Nina came here prepared! Nina has a knife on her, and Ophelia has her sachet of herbs and salts. They can fight off a single evil together, she’s certain of it. 

 

Nina puts her hands on her hips and stares up at the moon. Ophelia looks up as well. It’s unsettling how the trees don’t cover this bit of the sky. There’s a perfectly shaped circle that shines down on this little meadow. Ophelia reaches into her satchel and pulls out the compact mirror. When she touches this mirror she can sense  _ immense _ power radiating from deep within it. This mirror belonged to someone with a strong connection to magic, perhaps a sorceress or even a demigoddess. 

 

She opens it and sets it down in the grass. Then she quietly, eagerly, waits. 

 

It’s only about five minutes before Nina positions herself right at Ophelia’s side. She has her arms folded over her chest and she’s just staring down at the mirror. Ophelia is doing the same, awaiting their fated encounter with the unicorn, but Nina seems far less optimistic. A few minutes more pass and she sighs audibly. Ophelia peers at her. It’s so hard to see in this darkness, but she can make out the very edges of Nina’s features. Her eyes reflect the moonlight well, and her hair even seems to glow under it. It’s soft, so very light blonde, woven up in braids as if it were spun from gold itself. 

 

She’s beautiful, that is. Any unicorn would be lucky to meet her. Nothing happens, still, and Ophelia begins to wonder if she simply isn’t worthy enough to meet her. She’s nothing special, after all. Nina is a princess, a strong and spunky maiden with a pure heart and who longs to help those in need at any cost. Ophelia is nothing like that. She isn’t a princess… and she isn’t here selflessly. Deep down she knows that this is just a prayer that perhaps if a unicorn sees her worth, she might finally become the chosen one she longs to be.

 

She sighs, too, and finally she reaches down and closes the mirror. It claps shut with an echo so loud it startles Nina. It startles something else, too. Ophelia looks up with a gasp when there’s a rustling in the bushes across the way. She hears the telltale sound of running.

 

“Nina!” She sputters. She scoops up the mirror and shoves it into her bag and takes off in a chase after the beast. “The unicorn!” 

 

Nina yelps and runs after her, but Ophelia can barely tell. She’s so focused on finding her, maybe she’s really here, maybe the mirror worked… but then she finds a steep hill and no unicorn to be found. She comes to an abrupt stop, chest heaving and burning from the sprinting. The air out here is cold and thin and she can almost taste magic on it. 

 

And then Nina crashes into her back and she screams while they tumble down the hill. It hurts. All Ophelia can think about is the air rushing out of her lungs at first. Seconds later she thinks about how it hurts less, and then she can feel Nina’s arms wrapped up tight around her. She’s protecting her. 

 

When they finally stop rolling they’re just in a pile of sticks and dead leaves and dirt. Ophelia is sprawled out on top of Nina, gasping for breath, and Nina is groaning in pain under her. “Jeez,” Nina mumbles helplessly. “Did you have to run like that?” 

 

Ophelia stares down at her hesitantly. “Yes,” She answers. Yes, she needed to run. She’s sure it was a unicorn. Nina will probably try to convince her it was only a deer, but why should a deer be out in the middle of the night, drawn to the mirror? 

 

Then again, maybe the unicorn wasn’t drawn to the mirror at all, but to Nina. She is a vision of beauty after all. Ophelia watches her eyes settle there on her own. Just staring. Her lips are curled into a sideways smile and they draw Ophelia in, really. She leans down and before she knows what she’s doing she kisses her very best friend. 

 

Nina blinks up at her when she’s through, and Ophelia is, admittedly, embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” She whispers, belatedly. “It’s just that your eyes were shining brighter than stars, and I could feel an ethereal energy from inside of you, and you’re so… flawless, in light of all of my failures.” 

 

“What…” Nina starts. Then she rolls her eyes. “Are you trying to tell me you like me or something? I kind of figured that out when you kissed me.” 

 

Ophelia starts to defend herself, but she stops because Nina lifts her hands up from the ground to drag the backs of her fingers along her cheek. Her fingers are thin and soft, and they settle on picking a leaf out of Ophelia’s hair. “I like you too.” 

 

She starts to lean closer and Ophelia is certain they’re about to kiss again. It will be like a fairy tale all its own, the beginning of a happily ever after. Instead she hears a startled cry, a familiar man shouting “ _ Nina!”  _

 

Nina sits up and Ophelia stumbles out of her lap. There, running towards them with a lantern tied to his belt, is Niles. He yanks Ophelia up by her arm, and then Nina, and his grip is almost bruising. But then he hugs them, both of them, and Ophelia doesn’t need any powers to sense that he’s anxious, and that he’s been searching for them. When he does let them free from his hug--one Nina is complaining about the whole time it’s happening--it’s only to turn and cup his mouth to shout in the direction he came. “They’re here!” he calls. “Leo? Odin! They’re here!”    
  
There’s no response. Ophelia hopes they weren’t looking for them long… She hates to think she scared her father. “Ophelia,” Niles says to her, but he hasn’t turned to look at her yet. 

 

“Yes, your highness?” Ophelia squeaks. 

 

Niles does turn his head then, only to scoff. “You’re not in trouble, yet. Don’t call me that. Can you send up a signal?” 

 

She can! She takes a few steps away from them and  with an extra bit of divine flair she sends a spiral of light into the sky. It fills up the woods around them. Nina looks up, skeptically. 

 

Niles tells them to follow him and so they do. Behind him a few steps, walking back in the direction they assume is homeward, they’re quiet. Nina is chewing on her thumbnail, but she stops when Ophelia whispers, “You have my sincerest apologies.” 

 

“For what?” Nina asks. “What happened back there? I thought I told you I liked it?” 

 

“Er--Um, no,” Ophelia blushes and she nearly loses all desire to speak. Finally it creeps back up as a ghost of a whisper. “I meant that you’ll be in trouble. Your father may not punish you yet, but I sense that it may be on the horizon.” 

 

Nina shrugs. “I get in trouble all the time.” She stretches her hand out and catches Ophelia’s. Just like that she weaves their fingers together like a knot, meant to be together forever, securely and safe.    
  
Up ahead she can see men with horses. She feels terrible, it looks like the whole castle has been out looking for them. She can see her father--She sees him break out into a run to meet them. Prince Leo is with him. They both look awfully relieved. 

 

Ophelia looks at their hands. They’ll likely part ways tonight and Ophelia can only  _ guess _ that she’s going to be grounded for days after this, but something has changed. Maybe Ophelia wasn’t chosen by a unicorn tonight… but Nina chose her--and Ophelia values Nina above any unicorn the world over. 

 

Grounded, definitely, but Ophelia is very happy to report she managed to woo a princess and earn herself a beautiful girlfriend tonight. Their hands slip apart, only latched together by their pinky fingers… and then finally they part ways entirely. If this is her fairy tale, then the two of them are destined to write the most incredible happily ever after.


End file.
